Today's portable electronic devices may store a myriad of different types of data. Personal cell phones, for example, may store contact information, including postal addresses, e-mail addresses, and phone numbers of friends, family members, or business associates. Today's cell phones may also capture picture or video files and store the files in onboard memory. Further, cell phones and other types of mobile devices are also typically equipped with web browsers and other Internet-enabled tools that allow a user to download music files, video files, and other types of media. In addition to being data stores, many modern mobile devices have software and hardware for communicating over short ranges with one another. A pair of mobile-device users may exchange contact information using a wireless Bluetooth link, for example, between their corresponding devices.
Prior to transmitting any data, a user typically must locate and select the appropriate data on the device that is to be transmitted. In many instances, this may be a cumbersome task. The user may need to navigate through several menus before finding the desired data. For example, if the user wants to exchange an electronic business card, the user typically needs to access an e-mail program, locate a menu containing the business card, and filter through the information in this menu to locate the business card. If this same user would also like to exchange additional data, the user would typically need to navigate through a different set of menus, filtering through various data before finding the desired data. In some instances, a mobile device user may experience a cognitive overload when navigating menus and filtering through the data contained in these menus. For example, the data may not be well organized or a user may need to open a particular file before being able to determine if it is appropriate to send.